Árón Taylor-Smith claims first win in ten years in slippery second race

Laser Tools Racing’s Árón Taylor-Smith scored his first British Touring Car Championship win in almost ten years in a rain-affected second race at Brands Hatch.

Light drizzle started to fall before the race, creating tricky conditions for the slick tyre-shod field. Pole-sitter Ash Sutton made a good start, along with closest rivals Ricky Collard and Tom Ingram, but racing had to be paused at the end of the opening lap as Lewis Selby had slipped off the circuit all by himself at Druids, bringing out the safety car.

It took until lap seven for racing to resume, with Sutton initially fending off the challenge for Collard, but a lap later the Team VERTU driver dived inside at Surtees to seize the lead.

Tricky conditions continued to cause many incidents and slides, including Plato Racing’s Daniel Rowbottom, who went off on lap nine before being one of only two drivers to pit for wet tyres at the end of the following lap, having dropped from 11^th to last.

The action continued at a frenetic pace, and on lap ten Chris Smiley was knocked off the road at Druids by both Laser Tools Toyotas of Taylor-Smith and Gordon Shedden whilst battling for ninth.

At this point, Taylor-Smith began to make rapid progress as conditions became wetter. The Irishman passed Toyota stable-mate Josh Cook for eighth on lap 11, followed by Power Maxed Racing’s Mikey Doble for seventh a lap later.

Dan Cammish and Charles Rainford tangled on the next lap, moving Taylor-Smith up to sixth, and on lap 14 the NAPA Racing UK car of Sam Osborne went off, moving Taylor-Smith up to fourth.

Taylor-Smith then slipped inside a sliding Ingram at Paddock Hill Bend on lap 15, and further around the lap he powered past Sutton to take second. It took him only two more laps to pass Collard for the lead, and thereafter he began to pull clear, holding an advantage of over four seconds when the race was red-flagged on lap 21.

The stoppage came after WSR’s Rainford tangled with Ingram on the 22^nd lap, sending the former spinning off into the Druids gravel. When Osborne then ran wide behind them, Rowbottom dived to the inside of the baulked Focus but the pair made contact and Osborne was sent off into the gravel, despite waved yellow flags, and the decision was made to stop the race and call a result.

That gave Taylor-Smith his first win in almost a decade, with Sutton and Collard completing the podium.

Ingram was fourth, ahead of the leading Independent of Power Maxed Racing’s Aiden Moffat in fifth.

His team-mate Doble took sixth, ahead of Speedworks’ Josh Cook in seventh, Restart Racing’s James Dorlin in eighth, with the top ten completed by Power Maxed’s Dexter Patterson, from the back of the grid, and WSR’s Daryl De Leon.

Despite both Plato Racing drivers pitting for wets, neither Rowbottom or Adam Morgan in his repaired A35 got back onto the lead lap, finishing in 13^th and 15^th respectively.

Race three is scheduled to get underway at 17:30 BST, with the top eight reversed, giving Dorlin pole with Cook alongside.

Race result

POS	NO	CL	NAT	DRIVER	ENTRANT	CAR	LAPS	TIME	BEST	GD
1	50	I		Árón TAYLOR-SMITH	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	20	20:02.434	55.623	13
2	116	M		Ashley SUTTON	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	20	3.409	55.391	1
3	11	M		Ricky COLLARD	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	20	3.830	55.329	2
4	80	M		Tom INGRAM	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	20	4.460	55.677	3
5	16	I		Aiden MOFFAT	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	20	5.304	55.920	17
6	88	I		Mikey DOBLE	LKQ Euro Car Parts with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	20	5.571	55.582	7
7	66	M		Josh COOK	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	20	9.027	55.636	10
8	132	I		James DORLIN	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	20	9.720	56.036	14
9	17	I		Dexter PATTERSON	Steel Seal with Power Maxed Racing	Audi A3 Saloon	20	9.958	56.055	20
10	2	I		Daryl DE LEON	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	20	12.111	56.255	11
11	28	M		Nicolas HAMILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	20	32.700	54.489	19
12	22	I		Chris SMILEY	Restart Racing	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	20	38.779	56.311	8
13	32	M		Daniel ROWBOTTOM	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	19	+ 1 LAP	52.568	15
14	27	M		Dan CAMMISH	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	19	+ 1 LAP	55.835	4
15	33	M		Adam MORGAN	Cataclean Plato Racing	Mercedes A35 Saloon	19	+ 1 LAP	53.852	21
R	77	M		Sam OSBORNE	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	20	DNF	55.639	6
R	99	I		Charles RAINFORD	WSR	BMW 330i M Sport	20	DNF	55.534	9
R	19	M		Max BUXTON	Speedworks Corolla Racing	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	19	DNF	56.156	18
R	3	M		Tom CHILTON	Team VERTU	Hyundai i30 Fastback N	18	DNF	55.767	5
R	52	I		Gordon SHEDDEN	Laser Tools Racing with MB Motorsport	Toyota Corolla GR Sport	11	DNF	56.044	12
R	15	M		Lewis SELBY	NAPA Racing UK	Ford Focus Titanium	0	DNF	N/A	16